Somewhere on the web a while ago I ran across an article stressing the importance of
an environment for the creative/inspirational process. It could be a coffee shop or it could be a desk and it could be with or without music but everyone does, or at least should, be able to define their optimum environment. I started to feel all weird and amateurish because I have not noticed that I'm more productive in one place than another. Is it true, does everyone else have a set place they work best in? I work on the couch, I work in bed, I work at the dining room table with Zeb and Valerie playing poker beside me, I work at the Irish pub down the street. I began to wonder how much more effective my efforts would be if I had my own defined environment. When I saw this little gem on Craigslist I knew I had found it - the key to productivity. The boy disagreed. He brought up several valid points, one being that I had decided my allowance this month would go to a breadmaker, not to an old cabinet. Also, the look did not match the antique/wood/warm thing we've got going as a general, haphazard style. I knew that underneath the reasoning he just thought, from the picture on Craigslist, that it was ugly. I disagreed back that warm/wood/antique might start to get a little fusty looking and we needed some chrome. Specifically, a 50's style medical desk in teal and black.
When I brought it home that night Zeb took one look at it and informed me he was taking it over for his own. He likes it after all.
But it's mine, all mine, all set up exactly how I like it. When I look up, directly ahead, I see Marjoram. Which is always an inspiring thing. Some of you like to know prices and this is a deal I'm particularly proud of. I found it listed at $50 and did not even try to talk them down. Axon said she saw my desk's beat-up twin in an antique shop for $250 last week. I've spent a lot of time at this desk since I got it. I won't say whether that time has resulted in increased productivity or just reading the entire
GFY archives. I'll just say I'm very happy with my environment.
P.S. In writing this post I became increasingly confused about the everyone/everybody they/him/her issue. I found
this to be an interesting article on the ambiguous subject.
The American Visionary Art Museum
Visionary/Creepy
Rowan Turns One
Zebulin Showing Rowan How It's Done
Ro Having None Of It
Federal Hill Park
Sonora's Favorite Game - Washing Dishes
Dinner for 13 (including the in utero Carroll Baby G. and the Shaffer Twins)
Perplexed and Horrified at The Claw (pictured above)
Baltimore's Inner Harbor
When I brought it home that night Zeb took one look at it and informed me he was taking it over for his own. He likes it after all.
The most obvious reason to join is the quality of the produce. You might or might not care about the ethics of buying local, or believe that pesticides are any worse for you than the chlorine in the tap water, but when it comes down to taste (the only thing that might convince my father), this stuff is the real deal. Those carrots above taste more carroty than a carrot. And they are really really orange. They are gorgeous. I still can't believe I'm using words like that for vegetables. But really, they are striking, and because I hope you think so too, I will share a good number of the thirty pictures I took of them throughout this post.
Common objections to joining a CSA - you have to pay upfront, and all at once it's a big chunk of change. I maintain that the CSA is cheaper in the long run than going to the Farmer's Market every week and picking things out individually. In fact, for some reason, the $18 a week that the cost of the CSA breaks down to has somehow ended up dropping our grocery bill by about $30-$40 a week. We're eating much better for less. Of course there is no getting around the fact that organic and local will always be a bit more expensive than produce at Wal-Mart. I am encouraged though, that by cutting costs in other ways (less meat, more lentils) we can still afford the higher-quality, more nutrient dense produce (do I sound like Marianne or what? I basically just stole that from her blog). Another complaint leveled against CSA's is the lack of choice and variety. You get a bag of whatever the farmer has ready that week. I, for one, get easily overwhelmed if I have too many choices so this actually works out better for me. I love having a place to start when I begin menu planning each week. It's kind of like putting together a puzzle (I rely heavily on Epicurious.com for this) trying to figure out what you can make with cauliflower, nasturtium blossoms, and the half tub of creme fraiche sitting in the fridge. You might get turnips three weeks in a row, but really there are a hundred different ways to fix them. I think we were stuck in a deeper rut pre-CSA, now we've tried vegetables we never even knew existed, much less would have picked out if we had a choice. We discovered we love rutabagas, a funny little root that we had never heard of six months ago!
I glossed over it above, but to me the most significant reasons to join a CSA are political/ethical ones that I am very ill equipped to summarize. They have to do with the true cost of food vs. government subsidized food, it has to do with community and the commitment you make to the farmer who is (loosely) your neighbor. You're in it together - if his crop fails you don't get your food. You share the burden. But now my dad has stopped reading because he just wants to know where he can get the tastiest, cheapest steak. Which, actually, is probably through some kind of local buying club. And buying clubs are often attached to CSA's so...
